Jonas Salk Biography

Born: October 28, 1914
New York, New York
Died: June 23, 1995
La Jolla, California
American immunologist and virologist

The American physician, virologist (scientist who studies viruses), and
immunologist (medical scientist concerned with the structure and function
of the immune system, the body's resistance to infection) Jonas
Salk developed the first effective poliomyelitis (polio) vaccine.

Jonas Salk.
Reproduced by permission of

AP/Wide World Photos

.

Early years and education

Jonas Edward Salk was born in New York City on October 28, 1914, the
oldest of three sons of Daniel and Dora Salk. The family moved to the
Bronx, New York, shortly after Jonas's birth. As a child he was
thin and small and did not do well at sports, although he was an
excellent student. With his mother's encouragement, he had a
sense as a child that when he grew up he would "make a
difference" by doing something significant.

Salk graduated from Townsend Harris High School, a school for
exceptional students. He studied hard, read everything he could lay his
hands on, and always got good grades. At the age of sixteen Salk entered
the College of the City of New York to study law. He subsequently
changed his mind and decided instead to pursue medicine. In 1934 he
enrolled in the College of Medicine of New York University, from which
he graduated in 1939. Salk worked at New York's Mount Sinai
Hospital from 1940 to 1942, when he went to the University of Michigan.
There he helped develop an influenza (flu) vaccine. In 1944 he was
appointed research associate in epidemiology (the study of the causes,
distribution, and control of disease), and in 1946 he was made assistant
professor.

Polio vaccine

In 1947 Salk accepted a position at the University of Pittsburgh as
associate professor of bacteriology (the study of bacteria, one-celled
organisms that can cause disease). There he carried out his research on
a polio vaccine. Polio vaccines had been attempted before but without
success. Until 1949 it was not known that there were three distinct
types of polio viruses.

This discovery provided a starting point for Salk. Working under a grant
from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, he prepared a
killed-virus vaccine effective against all three types. Testing began in
1950, and the preliminary report on the vaccine's effectiveness
was published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association
in 1953. National field trials were held in 1954, and in 1955 the
vaccine was determined safe for general use.

The Salk vaccine is made by cultivating (growing) three strains of the
virus separately, then killing it by applying a strong chemical called
formaldehyde. Tests are then performed
to make certain the virus is dead. A series of three or four injections
is required to make someone immune.

Problems with the Salk vaccine

Acceptance of the vaccine was not without problems. Salk was criticized
because a glaring Hollywood-like promotion was undertaken for the
vaccine. Also, some medical colleagues favored a live-virus vaccine. The
live-virus vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin (1906–1993)
contained a mutant (altered, different) form of the polio virus, called
an avirulent virus. This means it was not able to harm the body's
defenses. The live-virus vaccine had advantages over the killed-virus
vaccine. It could be administered orally (through the mouth) rather than
by injection, and one dosage gave permanent immunity.

The biggest problem with the Salk vaccine was that improper production
of the vaccine by some drug companies resulted in the vaccine being
contaminated with live polio virus. Many hundreds of children died or
became extremely ill because of this.

Salk, during his polio researches, was made research professor of
bacteriology at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, (1949–1954) and
professor of preventive medicine (1954–1957). In 1957 he was
named Commonwealth professor of experimental medicine.

In 1963 he opened the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San
Diego, California. There he and his colleagues studied problems relating
to the body's autoimmunization reaction; that is, why the body
rejects foreign material, for example, an organ transplant.

Jonas Salk died on June 23, 1995, in La Jolla, California, at the age of
eighty from heart failure. In his lifetime he was able to see the
effects of his life's work. By the time Salk died, polio had
virtually disappeared from the United States.